


No Light Left

by Lady_of_Rohan



Category: The Evil Within (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Fear, Gen, Loneliness, Post-Game(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-19
Updated: 2015-04-19
Packaged: 2018-03-23 14:23:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3771541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_of_Rohan/pseuds/Lady_of_Rohan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Though he might be out of STEM, for Sebastian, the nightmare has only just begun.</p><p>Just a tiny fic written for my dear friend iures! ♥</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Light Left

**Author's Note:**

  * For [iures](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=iures).



> This is just a tiny prompt fill for a very good friend of mine, who wanted to see some sad post-game Seb. I wanted to write something longer but a lot of the themes were similar to another fic I'm writing, so I kept it short. 
> 
> God, I'm so excited and nervous for The Consequence.
> 
> There's a tiny Joseb hint in this, which references events from my fic "Missing." So if you've read it, you might catch it :)

  
_9:48pm_  
  
Seated in the back of the parked ambulance, Sebastian suffered silently as the paramedic gingerly taped a gauze pad to the back of his head.  
  
The puncture wounds were oozing, but he barely felt anything at all. He stared forward at the flashing lights of the police vehicles outside of the hospital, shades of vibrant reds and blues, a display that put him into a numbed trance despite the countless times he'd seen them. Though he knew that it was reality, he still very much felt as if he were lost in some deranged, disparate daydream. As the officers and coroners dragged the mangled bodies out on stretchers, one by one, where blood mingled with the glistening puddles, he wondered when he would wake up from this nightmare.  
  
The middle-aged medic was kind and had a familiar face... but she was no comfort to him. Often working closely with the emergency units on cases, he recognized her as the same woman who had attended to one of Joseph's injuries about a year prior. He recalled staying by his partner's the entire time as she poked and prodded at him.  
  
At the moment, he'd certainly felt as if he'd been prodded enough, the back of his head throbbing. It took Sebastian a few moments after she checked his vitals to realize that he was being spoken to.  
  
"Detective?"  
  
"Hrm?" Sebastian winced, almost wishing that she'd chosen to address him differently... her soothing, sterile voice bringing back all-too-recent memories. He turned his head, ever so slightly, to look at her. She was smiling at him in that sympathetic, anesthetized sort of way.  
  
"Where's your partner?"  
  
Sebastian thought for a moment, an icy sensation tingling from his chest down to his toes.  
  
"He's..."  
  
Any further attempt at words was strangled and choked in the dryness of his throat.  
  
"Oh," she said softly, her smile fading as she squeezed his arm. "I'm so sorry."  
  
A moment later, and he was standing, wobbling before he found his balance. The sudden rush of blood to his head, and the pain in his skull that had intensified, didn't stop him from walking away.  
  
"Detective," the woman urged, "we should take you to the hospital. You really should be looked over, after being--"  
  
"I'll be fine," he said, already stumbling towards the main road, determined to call himself a cab, and to get as far away from this godforsaken place as he could. If he had to step foot again in a hospital for the rest of his life, it would be too soon.  
  
Behind him, the lights continued to flash, throwing a display of color onto his otherwise darkened form, his shadow solemnly following him.  
  
_"Don't worry about me."_  
  
_10:39pm_  
  
Upon realizing that he had none of his personal effects, or the money to pay for a cab, they'd recruited a fellow cop to drive Sebastian back to his apartment on the outskirts of Krimson City.  
  
Exiting the vehicle, Sebastian walked up to his front door, glancing around anxiously as he inhaled shallow breaths. He'd been offered an escort, which he persistently denied. Thankfully, he had a spare key hidden outside of his apartment, just in case.  
  
The only other existing spare rested in his partner's hands.  
  
As the trees swayed in the light wind, the branches cast asymmetrical shadows upon the brick walls of his apartment building. They resembled dismembered hands, reaching out to grasp him, clutching and choking and closing in--  
  
\--and Sebastian fumbled with the door handle, letting himself inside and swiftly slamming the door behind him.  
  
He'd nearly forgotten to breathe.  
  
Stepping past the threshold should have felt like home, a welcome relief... but the feeling of being indoors again, in an environment that he was familiar with, wasn't particularly reassuring. The sense of relief that he felt was fleeting, gone hardly before it came.  
  
Flicking on all the lights, he quickly walked into his bedroom and opened the night stand's drawer to pull out his spare 9mm. Hands trembling, he did a thorough search of his apartment. The closets, beneath the bed, in his storage space... as if he were examining a crime scene.  
  
In many ways, this was one.    
  
The inside of his once-warm abode was like a ghost town. Quiet. Lifeless. Cold... but thankfully uninhabited by anyone other than himself and his own shadow. There were still dishes left in his sink, and the Sunday paper on his coffee table along with an eerie sense of disquiet.  
  
 God, how long had he been gone? A part of him didn't want to know.  
  
He knew he should have showered, but the thought of any sort of water touching his body, or being anywhere near a bathtub so soon repulsed him and made thick bile rise into his throat. That would come, with time... but he had to occupy himself with something. Anything. He'd been both immobile, and so exhausted, for so long. He wanted his limbs to move again somewhere other than his own mind.  
  
Once he'd thought of an idea, he grabbed his wallet and keys, leaving all the lights on before he exited. Tucked into his belt was his pistol, just in case.  
  
Anything could happen... this much he knew to be true, even if it defied all logic. There were no taking chances tonight.  
  
_11:17pm_  
  
The drive to the supermarket was a familiar path by now, one of the only 24 hour stores in the vicinity of his apartment building. There were countless times he'd walked there, too drunk to safely drive and risk being caught under the influence. He'd lost track of all the nights he'd wandered here at some ungodly hour, to pick up a six-pack of beer.  
  
Entering the store felt odd, like he no longer belonged in such a mundane scene. The late hour didn't help, as the place was practically deserted.  
  
He should have bought the essentials as he wandered around the fully-stocked shelves... milk, eggs, a loaf of bread, to make up for what had spoiled in his absence, but food was far from his thoughts. Hunger, though he surely needed to eat, didn't concern him. Sebastian bypassed the alcohol entirely, too fearful of what it might do to his mind, and headed straight for the aspirin instead. If he could get through this with a clear mind that didn't make his brain throb painfully, he might be able to do this.  
  
Beside the aisle of seemingly endless medications, was a stand designated for eye care. A revolving display of wayfarers caused him to stop dead in his tracks, a sick sensation dropping in the pit of his stomach. Sebastian stared for a long moment at the gleaming pairs of glasses under that fluorescent lighting, all of them seeming to meet his gaze emptily, before tearing himself away.  
  
Walking past the Sporting Goods section with his bottle of pills shaking in his firm grasp, Sebastian found what he came for relatively quickly. His meager items in hand, he made his way to the checkout.  
  
 As he set the items down upon the counter, Sebastian's attention was immediately diverted.  
  
The cashier, a young woman, was wearing a red smock emblazoned with the company logo, but that wasn't what he initially took note of. No, it was her long, black hair that cascaded down her back and across her shoulders... and her pale features as she innocently locked eyes with him.  
  
His pounding headache intensifying, the visuals that assaulted his thoughts were claustrophobic and nightmarish. A sunflower field that served as a false sense of calm, a fire raging all around him as the flames licked at his flesh, and two children trapped in a barn as they were burned alive. He could still hear them screaming, their anguished cries resounding inside of his brain... reminding him of another devastating fire that was always lingering somewhere in the back of his mind. The cries turned to hellish shrieks as he could still see her face... the monster she had become, as she gripped his throat with her elongated fingers and nails sharp as knives...  
  
"Sir? Sir, are you all right?"  
  
Sebastian was shaking his head, with a hand raised to cradle it, not having heard the girl attempting to speak to him as he attempted to breathe again. She had already rung his items up, her concerned stare quite obvious as she awaited payment for the transaction.  
  
"Keep the change," Sebastian muttered, and thrust 40-something dollars into her awaiting hands before he swiftly grabbed his bag and left the store.  
  
Safely back in his vehicle, he felt a bit more content with the newly-bought lantern in the seat beside him. But still, as he drove back home, the streetlights reminded him of endless beacons, luring him into the unknown as he drove through the shadowed outskirts of Krimson.  
  
_11:59pm_  
  
Arriving back at his apartment, Sebastian was quick to lock the door behind him, and close all of the curtains.  
  
Allowing his shoulders to relax for the first time all evening, Sebastian returned to his unmade bed to slump at the edge of it, his limbs feeling leaden from misuse. It felt like he had swam for days, but only ever tread water, going nowhere.  
  
He reached out to place the lantern upon the bedside table, flicking it on as a warm, inviting glow cast light all around him. It spilled outwards, a miniature display of radiance that brightened up the entire room.  
  
Next, he retrieved his gun from his belt, and relaxed his trigger finger to place his pistol within reach. Beside it on that wooden table was one of his favorite photos of himself, Myra and Lily. One of the only hard copies he had left since the fire. It seemed lifetimes ago.  
  
Sebastian extended an arm to pick up the frame, holding it in his roughened hands. The familiar visage staring back at him from that old photograph didn't match the reflection in the glass. Gaunt, unshaven, haggard... and not even the smiling faces of his loved ones, bathed in soft lantern-light, could bring him any comfort. The luminous safety emitted by that lantern might have been a small relief, but it couldn't fix what had been done. He had failed them. Failed _everyone_.

This was no safe haven.  
  
This was his new hell... and Sebastian couldn't help but feel that he was losing everything, all over again.  
  
With his partner still unaccounted for, he was completely and utterly alone, accompanied only by the shadows on the wall, though that light tried so hard to combat it. The sense of finality in his heart was almost startling. It swelled and it grew, paining him far more than any headache.  
  
As his head hit the pillow, tears of anger, pain, exhaustion and frustration stung at his eyes... and as he inhaled sharply against it, heaving in a shuddering breath against that soft fabric, he swore that it smelled faintly of Joseph.  
  
Sparing a glance at his digital clock, the glowing numbers seemed to taunt him.  
  
_12:13am._  
  
It had only been two hours since his escape. Two hours, and it already felt like an eternity.  
  



End file.
